ORGANS OF NCTRITIOX. 



161 



have their points directed downwards towards the base, as in 

 Dandelion, it is said to be r uncinate (^fig. 308) ; when a lyrate 

 leaf has but one deep recess on each side, so that it resembles 

 a violin in shape {fig. 309), it is termed panduriform or fiddle- 

 shaped, as in the Fiddle Dock. 



The above terms are those which define lobed feather-veined 

 leaves ; when they are palmatelv veined and lobed in various 

 •wavs, other terms are used according to the degree of division. 

 In describing such leaves, the terms bifid, trifid, quinquefid, 

 septemfid, multifid, are employed according to the number of their 

 fissures, as already noticed ; or the terms palmatifid. pahnatipar- 

 tite, palmatisected, deviyed from the direction of the veins, &c.,may 

 be used. Special names are also applied to certain modifications 

 of these, as is the case with the feather-veined leaves. Thus, when 

 a leaf has five spreading lobes united at their base by a more or 

 less broad expansion of parenchyma, so that the whole has a re- 

 semblance to the pahn of the hand with spreading fingers, it is 

 termed palmale {fig. 310), as in some species of Passionflower, 

 and in thePalmatedKhubarb; or when there are more than five 

 lobes, the leaf is described as palmatifid or palmately deft, as in 



Fig. 310. 



Fiq. 311. 



Fig. 310. Palmate leaf of a species of 



Passionflower {Passifiora') Fig. 



311. Palmatifid leaf of the Castor- 

 Oil plant iPdcimis communis). 



the Castor-oil plant {fig. 311). Some writers however, use the 

 terms palmate and palmatifid indifferently to describe either of 

 the above forms of leaves, but the sense in Avhich they are defined 

 above, is far more precise, and should alone be used. When the 

 lobes are less spreading, narrower, and somewhat deeper than 

 in a true ])almate leaf, it is digitate ; Avhen there are more 

 than five lobes of a similar character, as in the Bitter Cassava, 

 it is sometimes termed dtgitipartite, or even digitate, (though 

 improperly so,) by some authors. When the leaf is divided 

 nearly to its base into numerous narrow divisions, it is dissected, 



